We can't use any item we didn't find ourselves, or get by a quest. This includes : no buying from NPCs, and no buying via pet as well.

We can't repeat an area or boss

We can't go back to town unless you have to (to complete progress-stopping quests)

We allow to come back to the game after a death if it's early enough (so before entering Temple Steppes basically). After that, if one dies, the others have to keep going (we'll restart if there's only one of us left).

I guess the only exception we can have is for the enchanters you find in dungeons.
Of course, the difficulty is Elite.

1. No use of escape or load to menu to escape death.
2. No use of the console, respec tools, no other mods but those 4 listed. You can respec using the npc in town.
3. You can enter more than once in this tourney but can not have more than one character active.
4. Please enter your character before you begin the tournament and to update the progress by using the entire table from the previous update in the code section.
5 Can only be played in single player and on Elite. NO going to lan or internet mode and switching to a lower difficulty.
6. You must chose the Damage Buff 3, Monster Health Buff 3, and Monster Armour Buff 3

Scoring
Scoring will be based on your level and your experience points at that level.

Tournament is now open and will end June 1st at 0:00 GMT I will give a warning about the end of the tournament before it closes with the first warning a week before.

Good luck to everyone and remember to have fun]]>
HCE Ironmanhttp://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/39960/hce-ironman
Mon, 01 Oct 2012 09:02:25 +0000TL2 Hardcore ModeAmplitudo39960@/discussions
To me, farming for XP to progress just turns the game into one of patience rather than skill. In a word, boring.

I have lost 15 or so characters so far just experimenting. The bosses don't give me trouble, some fights have taken me 10+ minutes to finish safely, but there was never any risk of death. What has killed me is nasty boss packs or champions that jump me when I'm not prepared.

I'm going to start a new character tonight, I think my best bet is a Cannon using Engineer. I only died on my last one because I was stupid and decided to experiment with a melee skill.

Anyone else doing HCE Ironman style? What is your mileage so far?]]>
Gathering the Hardcoreshttp://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/60348/gathering-the-hardcores
Sun, 30 Nov 2014 09:19:38 +0000TL2 Hardcore ModeSarge4206th60348@/discussions
I have noticed that the **** players of this game lack community. I am offering a place where players who are interested in finding other **** players can meet and setup gaming plans.
Why should you have to play alone?
Why should you have to hide in a locked game?
join us on ventrillo at agate.typefrag.com Port 7770.
Ask for Wicked/Sarge if you want more info.]]>
HCE CHEATERS?http://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/67883/hce-cheaters
Sun, 11 Oct 2015 04:48:31 +0000TL2 Hardcore Modedye4571467883@/discussionsIs this game dead?http://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/64076/is-this-game-dead
Thu, 28 May 2015 08:04:55 +0000TL2 Hardcore ModeDisposition9664076@/discussions Runic had to have made a killing off this game, yet no updates, no news, no nothing... What happened?

I thought maybe this game could re-ignite my missing desire of 9.5 years of Diablo II because I can't seem to find anything that comes close....

Things that Diablo II did right :

Loot farming was always fun, it was easy to get a good character, hard to get a perfect one.
Each class felt to their own, nothing was really mix matched, each class wasn't trying to be more than they should be, a barbarian was a barbarian, a druid was a druid, a sorc was a sorc.
There was VLLD, LLD, MLD, Regular Duelz, **** there was even Open Realm Hacked Duelz to see who had the biggest E-Peen.
There were glitches but they were fun! Teleporting in to black space for example!
Skills were also fun, leaping to places other people couldn't go, nova sorc's in 1.09 melting cows, FOrb sorc's in 1.10, hurricane druids, feral druids, trapsins, multishot amazon, strafezon, auradin, you could make what you wanted and succeed if you tried hard enough.

Why can a game that old still have a following but this game is two years old and the forums are dead? All I want is basically D II wrapped up in new graphics, a dungeon crawler that was mid-fast paced where you blew stuff up and got awesome loot, something that I could play for a couple hours here and there and have fun.]]>
Traps. How do they work?http://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/67068/traps-how-do-they-work
Mon, 13 Jul 2015 00:26:28 +0000TL2 Hardcore Modelomby67068@/discussions
Im back playing a little TL2 and so far having great fun
im playing a lvl 29 Engineer on Veteran/****

I just put a foot on the forsaken vault and I went from 100% to 10% of my total HP after stepping on a trap.

so I wonder... ¿How do this work?
how do TRAPS work?
it deals phisical/elemental damage just like any other attack? does armor/elemental armor counts against traps?
Its the same but just with higher damage?

General Builds For Elite (might be **** viable)EngineerEmbermageOutlanderBerserker (not by me)]]>
The Grand Regenthttp://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/60618/the-grand-regent
Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:04:29 +0000TL2 Hardcore Modeasmodean60618@/discussions
I´m playing an Embermage, and I want an opinon on what to transform my pet into: a Warsnout with Prismatic Morey and Frenzy Fish, or a Vampiric Spider (for the lifegain), also with Prismatic Morey and Frenzy Fish. Any advice is welcome.]]>
what rules do you play by?http://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/60241/what-rules-do-you-play-by
Mon, 20 Oct 2014 10:46:26 +0000TL2 Hardcore Modespiff60241@/discussions
I'm curious to hear what personal rules the rest of you choose to follow.

It seems that the "best" strategy for HCE is to farm 25 eyes of grell, which does not seem like a very appealing strategy to me. "No map re-roll" prevents this strategy nicely. Maybe it would be sufficient to allow map re-rolling but to consider "eye of grell" a restricted item, and only allow 1 per character.

It seems that these forums are fairly dead, but I thought I'd at least try to start to start a discussion on rulesets. I've made a list of some rules that I've tried in various combinations for HCE attempts. Please share any rules that you like to follow, or any thoughts you have on the rules I've listed here.

no map re-rolling

no using NPCs / no using NPCs in town

no fishing / no fishing in town

no sharing items between characters

1 eye of grell maximum

pet must be set to passive / no summons

]]>
Surviving the Grand Regent Death Bughttp://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/59768/surviving-the-grand-regent-death-bug
Wed, 07 May 2014 13:46:08 +0000TL2 Hardcore ModeJengerer59768@/discussions
If you're curious why it happens, open the following spoiler. Otherwise read ahead for a strategy on how to avoid the bug.

=== WHY IT HAPPENS ===

The Grand Regent has a spell that's intended to kill all monsters after he dies (and it repeatedly triggers for any new units that spawn/appear). The bug arises initially because the game doesn't allow dead units to set their "target" to a live unit.

So after the boss dies, two things can happen:

1) The boss dies and you witness the transformation of the guardian. As soon as the transformation completes, it triggers an entity spawn for the guardian, and the Regent tries to target it with its death spell. Because the guardian is alive, and the boss is dead, it doesn't allow the spell to target the guardian unit. Instead, the game looks for the nearest valid target, which as, you may have guessed, can be the player.
2) Units that are off-screen aren't updated by the game, so if the boss dies and you walk into an area with a unit that was out of vision, the boss's spell will trigger for the unit (but again, won't consider them a valid target because the boss is dead).

The strange part is that when the game looks for a fallback target after an attack has no initially valid target, it doesn't seem to take into consideration who the spell was intended for (that I saw, at least). It only takes into account whether a unit of the attacker's "type" can hit a unit of the victim's "type". Since bosses can indeed damage players, this makes the player a candidate for gibbing.

Fortunately, the conditions for being fallback-targeted by the Regent are pretty strict (and insane):

The player has to be very close to the spot that the Grand Regent died at (the numbers came from somewhere in the boss unit's data, but I couldn't figure out what exactly they meant; possibly base attack range).

The player has to be within the 60-degree cone of the last direction that the Regent was facing (from the position he died at). If no default attack FOV is specified, it uses 60 as a default.

The above conditions have to be met while the spell is triggered (as described above with a unit spawn or out of view unit becoming visible).

A possible fix I had for this was simply to allow dead units to target live ones. I don't really see when this would be a problem since most dead units don't trigger attacks (besides the Regent, in which case it's a legitimate target).

=== HOW TO AVOID ===

Kill the Regent far from the spot that the Guardian appears (the left hand side of the "arena") and move all players away from his death spot.

Reveal the Guardian (the Regent's corpse should be nowhere near at this point) and wait until he fully transforms to the Wood Guardian.

Walk around the area to reveal any off-screen units without getting any players near the Regent's death spot.

Go back to collect loot and live happily ever after.

Good luck!]]>
HCE First Time Walkthrough & Tips/Trickshttp://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/57314/hce-first-time-walkthrough-tips-tricks
Fri, 02 Aug 2013 15:23:26 +0000TL2 Hardcore ModeFriarChuggs57314@/discussionshttp://www.gamespot.com/news/torchlight-ii-sales-hit-2-million-6412032 I suspect a lot of people like me are just getting into the game and may be a bit frustrated by the lack of HCE content on these boards which appear to have died about six months ago. If you're like me, and tried Normal and Veteran and just didn't feel like the game was even trying against you, and then rolled an HCE character as overcompensation... and died... a lot...... well, hopefully this helps. I also selfishly hope people will post their own tips/tricks/strategies here since I"m relatively new to the game as well. The below information is my own experience melded with obsessive forum reading and general HC experience from things like D3. I'm writing this from the perspective of that you don't have access to **** gear since you're new to the game like me.

Walkthrough:
Act 1 Warn Estherians:
After running this zone you shouldn't be over level 3 so you can still respec out of any skill you don't want (I'm looking at you, Eviscerate berserkers). It's very possible to die in this zone, particularly if you pull too many of the thieves who are sometimes in the bottom right corner. Be careful with pulls and I strongly recommend a ranged weapon for these early zones before your skills can protect you (looking at you, Embermages with your stupid melee staves). Pro tip: most classes can use most weapons, so your embermage can use a gun or bow for the first zone or two till you get wands up and running. No shame in getting a ranged weapon with your zerker or engi or ember just to make sure you live through this zone, you can always switch back to your "standard" weapons once you get a decent one. My attitude in these early zones is basically just to use best available weapon, regardless of type.

Act 1 Path of Honored Dead:
Clear it all before the relatively easy dungeon. This is easier than the first zone because you have some actual skills and gear now.Dungeon Corrupted Crypt:
Don't get surrounded in here, it's very easy to get clipped on a corner, or by a sarcophogus, or cornered in without an escape skill to get out. Watch out for skelly archers too, they do a lot of damage if unmolested. I prefer to pull carefully so that I draw melee troops away from them and then they are unprotected. If you have zerker with shadow burst or something though you can just go straight at them to get in/out with burst.
The boss room is very easy if you pull right, and death if you pull wrong. Slowly kill mobs and inch forward into the room until you've cleared the near half of the square dais in the middle, then you can fight the boss kiting him around that area and the entrance to this level. The Fallen Guardian is the actual boss down on the second level, but there is another champion level mob there and if you pull both it could be gg. Always kill all other mobs before the Guardian, he doesn't spawn any and it's easier to avoid his attacks when there aren't other mobs. The Fallen Guardian himself has two attacks you need to dodge, where he raises up his sword above his head and pounds it into the ground creating a circle of green poison around him, and then after he does that his next power attack is raising the sword and slamming it into the ground to send out three tendrils of poison on the ground which will track you so run out of their range or break Line of Sight around a corner or something. As with all boss fights in HCE, your primary focus is avoiding damage, DPS is incidental and you need to stay alive over killing him fast. Pay close attention to attack animations so you can run away before he slams his sword into the ground.

Temple Steppes:
Huge zone. Clear it all before attempting any instances here as the bosses of those instances are much harder than anything you face outside. There are two dangers out here, one is when you are kiting champion mobs, make sure you have a clear area to kite back into so you don't trigger another mob. The other is SUMMONERS who are, in scientific fact, the devil. Summoners periodically cast a spell which summons plodding fell walkers. You can usually kite them around easily while you slowly DPS down the summoner, or if you have good AOE you can just burn through the trash faster than it is re-summoned and kill the summoner. You may want to take out the spear-chucking jerks before attempting any kiting (they don't ressurect, just the little guys). When fighting summoners make sure you have clear retreat paths, as there are a couple places they can appear on narrow sets of steps, and it's very easy to get stuck and die.Instance Fisherman's Lantern/PlunderCove:
I think this is the easiest of the instances here, so I suggest doing it first. Watch out for bridges and dead ends, don't get cornered, and pull carefully as the gun-toting ghost pirates are quite deadly en masse. These trash mobs are appreciably tougher than outside, so if you are having trouble with the trash you may want to reroll the outside world (start new online game, check "reroll world" box) and clear it one more time to get some gear and a level or two before starting the instances. The Ghosts can be deadly too, make sure not to trigger a ghost chest (it glows an unearthly green/blue) with other mobs around. The ghost AI is pretty dumb though so you should be able to kite them away one or two at a time. For the pirate captain One-Eyed **** (goonies, YEAH), you can use his ship as a choke point to kill the adds and/or do ranged DPS. **** is the first boss monster who summons adds, but he does so infrequently and on a timer so you should kill adds then DPS ****. He only has melee attacks and does an obvious animation before the big ones so back out of those. Melee chars should be able to easily tank his normal swipes.Instance: Bring Out Your Dead (Mordrox)
The instance itself is pretty standard. Have an escape route, pull carefullly, don't get trapped or overwhelmed. Mordrox himself, however, is by far the biggest danger you've yet faced. When you get to his lair, two giant skellies will come off the wall. DPS them fast and hard, as Mordrox and waves of other skellies are coming fast and the two Giants don't respawn. There are now three other sources of adds you need to contend with besides Mordrox: 1) a flame skelly mage, who respawns as soon as you kill him so just don't attack him, 2) skellies crawling up from the crypt on a timer including archers, so kill archers right away, and other skellies them when they reach a convenient mass, 3) summoned adds on a timer which should also be DPS'ed when they reach a convenient mass for kiilling. Most of the non-ranged adds are very slow so you can sometimes get some good DPS on Mordrox even while adds are up. Mordrox does a big poison slam and casts poison bolts which track you (poorly) so when you see his big attack animation start make sure to get out of range. You should be able to get 1-2 hits in between his strikes, which also only hit in front of him so zerkers can shadow burst behind him and keep attacking through his strikes. The socketable he drops, Eye of Mordrox, is great in weapons as it provides more damage than regular sockets and poison reduces armor.Instance: Phase Beast Portal
Why would you go in there? I haven't. Don't plan on it. Heard it **** and you die a lot.Instance: Wellspring Temple
Make sure you are comfortably killing mobs in here, as there are a lot of packs which can cause death to the unwary. If you don't have the DPS or armor to feel comfortable, go re-run Temple Steppes. This is the part of the game where I found weapon switching to start becoming very important. I tend to gravitate to one item set with a good shield with high block and/or flat Damage Reduction (DR), and the other set with a good AOE 2-hander for clearing trash. In the Temple, make sure to blow up all Urns as two of them unlock "secret rooms" which are full of treasure and goodies. There are a few dangerous champion mobs in here - a Summoner who also casts homing fireballs which then turn into exploding fire bombs (run away, let bombs explode, then re-engage). There is also a set of stairs onto a bridge where it is very easy to overpull a champion and a summoner together with many adds and that can be difficult. In the second Secret Room you should also progress carefully as you have little room to maneuver and you can easily pull a bunch of ghosts and spear jerks. With those big pulls you can use your AOE weapon to clear trash/adds, and then DPS the champ mobs with your one hander + shield.
General Grell is the boss of this instance. I would suggest being level 14 for comfort, though if you are familiar with him he is very doable even at 11. Grell is a lot like Mordrox - he periodically summons adds, which you should kill first, then DPS him. He has a ground pound which is short-range and you should avoid when you see him rear back to do it, he has a cave-in spell which drops boulders all over the room (sorry outlanders and embers), and a fire attack which is also dodgeable so if you have extra fire gems put them in your armor. The adds he summons come in waves and are of different types: shamblers, warbeasts, sturmgeon, etc. You have practice fighting these already so deal with them like you normally would. Grell is slow enough you should be able to pull the adds away from him. Grell sometimes drops a gem which gives you a flat 3% DR when put into armor. It is probably worth it to farm him to get some of these, as they are useful all the way into the late game. The game saves 2 dungeons at a time, so if you want to farm Grell you need to walk into two other dungeons then he will respawn.

Frosted Hills
I'm just getting started here so I'll add more as I progress. The first time I zoned in I was immediately confronted with a charging elite mob, which was incredibly deadly and almost killed me twice. Most of what I've read warns about the Yetis being able to one-shot you if a couple attack at the same time. As I get more experience here I'll add some more, but if this is your first time playing HCE it is probably wise to farm Grell a little bit before tackling this. Unless you play an engineer. They cheat.

Tips & Tricks:Fish are important, they all make your pet much more powerful. Turning him into a Mimic or Warsnout seems the most powerful incarnation I've seen.Vitality - I've heard mixed reviews of it because it gives so little HP, but it also adds Block. If you intend to use a shield, getting 100 vit total is probably a good idea as that lets you hit the block cap in the endgame.Itemization - +HP is one of the best affixes in HCE, especially at lower levels, and especially if you aren't stacking vit. I'm also very fond of all ways to regen health and mana.Skill leveling - be careful about leveling your bread and butter skills because it often increases the mana cost. Thus, it may be more effictive to save points to go from rank one to rank five (available at level 14 for starter skills like Rapid Shot or Frost Breath) rather than level up one by one. Passive skills are the opposite though, since they cost no mana if you are going to level them don't save up to do it.Potions - use them anytime you even think you might need one. It's better to spend a measly 120 gold on a potion than to have a 1% chance of dying from a strong follow-on attack. Mana potions can either be great DPS boosters for bosses, or if your escapes depend on mana (zerkers + outlanders) you may want to treat them like health potions and always make sure you have enough mana on hand to do one or two rune vaults/shadow bursts. Using higher level potions has benefits beyond the total mount healed, since all potions are heal over time, the big potions heal more HP faster and thus have uses even beyond the total HP healed.Hotkeys - bind your skillbar down to a comfortable set of keys near your non-mouse hand rather than 1-10. For example I have QE as potions, W as spell switch, Tab as weapon switch, ASD as buff/debuff skills.
Banking - You can't transfer gold, but you can bank items to sell on another character. Goldfish are particularly useful for this, I bank all of them in the shared stash.Alts - there are three primary approaches to alts in HC: just level your main toon and stash extra gear for when you die then reroll, level your main toon but level an identical toon behind him so that when main dies you don't have to redo everything, or level multiple different class toons simultaneously so you can cross-swap gear. I like the last option both for the gear boons and because I like the variety of choosing what class style I feel like playing at any given moment. The major downside with that plan though is that you don't gain the muscle memory for escape skills and quick action so sometimes you end up just button mashing when you are in a tight spot rather than quickly and efficiently doing exactly the actions you need to do to live.Enchants - I dont' know what the max number of enchants on an item is, but they are randomized and you can add/remove them from the enchanter so getting the "right" enchant can be very expensive. Save money for it.Buying Gear - the purchased armor in particular can be really great. The guy at the forge even sells some set equipment. I make sure to check him every time I'm in town.
Death - I've said "when" you die a lot in here, because it's true. YOU will die. Accept it and plan for it, that's what makes HCE so exciting.Move vs. Hold: You need to bind something to "stand and attack" and another key to just pure "move." For example I have shift as my stand button and cntrl as my move button. When I'm at range attacking I hold shift and attack, that keeps me from accidentally running forward if I misclick. If I'm in a tight space and need to run away, I hold cntrl and click so that I don't accidentally stand still and attack something if I click on a mob rather than on empty space. If I'm moving into range to attack you can just click the normal attack button and you will move towards the target till it is in range and do your attack.Range: Even melee weapons have range, so if you are using a 2handed axe or polearm for example, if you Frost Breath another melee unit you can attack it in melee and be out of its range.

Suggested Mods which I think are still in the spirit of HCE (if you disagree that's fine, play your way and enjoy it!):
Bigger Inventory - saves time from muling, but doens't enable anything you couldn't do in the game with enough effort: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=136235847
Quick Respec - Can be cheaty, but also can be very fair and a life saver if you realize you screwed your build up or if you are one of those people who thinks lag/bug deaths shouldn't count in HC so you want to resurrect your HC character:http://forums.runicgames.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=43248]]>
My Let's Play Videos of Elite **** Modehttp://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/59744/my-lets-play-videos-of-elite-hardcore-mode
Tue, 29 Apr 2014 12:25:24 +0000TL2 Hardcore ModeHchiccup59744@/discussionshttp://youtu.be/p9Gt2KdLj-s

I plan on doing at least 10 episodes of Torchlight 2 and then alternating different games, any and all feedback is appreciated of course.]]>
Keen to recount character journeyshttp://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/59907/keen-to-recount-character-journeys
Wed, 25 Jun 2014 14:10:23 +0000TL2 Hardcore ModeJibaku59907@/discussions
Her exploration of the Estherian Steppes were often slow due to the amount of unfriendly creatures dominating the area which, due to the shock of imminent death, lead to her appreciation of Storm Magicks in favor to Fire and Ice Magicks where each expulsion of her purple lightning bolts captured her attention, where each wand blast could whip up a whirlwind or summon a freak meteor to collapse on a creature or the potential that a creature which manages to reach her would get teleported away and disorientated by their sudden spatial change. An aesthetic appreciation mixed with a constant desire to resume the interaction with the unpredictable and highly amusing. The Estherians managed to get across to her that her bolts went by the name 'prismatic bolts' although, to her, the name was a constraint to what it really was.

She did not know that accepting a plea for help by a fellow in a graveyard would shorten her lifespan considerably. It may have been the spontaneous nature of Storm emboldening her with courage to try something new. Perhaps she saw a kindred spirit in this fellow. Maybe perhaps possibly she just got too darn cocky.
She didn't realize anything was wrong until she found herself staring at a giant zombie with army of minions in tow and as many potions as fingers on her hands. Needless to say it was drawn out.
Slowly.
Agonizingly.
Despair.
It was hopeless.
And then it ended.
If only she could remember ... she just needed ... just needed to know ... ... toast

If there wasn't that one instant-death spot, I'd be fine with the Luminous Arena. The spotlight, spikes and monster fights are challenging but they're doable.

But after that death, never again. I'm sticking with softcore.

Be warned, would-be **** players. It's not worth it to die in that one BS level. (Well, the one BS part of an otherwise-cool level). Stick with softcore unless you are very practiced with that blade trap gauntlet and can run it unscathed with a blindfold on.]]>
Looking for my next HCE build! Please suggest.http://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/59395/looking-for-my-next-hce-build-please-suggest
Sun, 02 Feb 2014 16:14:24 +0000TL2 Hardcore Modeloneranger59395@/discussions
So the title says it all. Got my first HCE NG0 victory few days ago with a PBmage. I am definitely planning to take it as high as I can, meanwhile I would also like to try a new build on HCE.

Any fun build would do, probably not another embermage. A frostmage would be Hailstorm Frostwave icebrand thing, already tasted them.Not interested in a firemage or Ice/electric hybrid, may be I would try them later.A battlemage with a staff sounds really really fun, but without a shield, how far we can clime up in HCE ladder? Specially now we have block cap at 75%, Having a shield is very helpful in HCE.

I am thinking about other sword and board builds, maybe a ember-quake + forcefield engi .. or Tundra-zerker? VH poison lander? there are so many other builds. Which would be more suitable for HCE and definitely more fun? I was really looking forward to a canoneer but I can't solve the charge problem with blast canon sigh!

Please suggest! Now I have some good loot at my shared stash, another character would be very enjoyable. Thanks in advance ]]>
How to deal with missile reflect enemies with ranged buildshttp://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/58720/how-to-deal-with-missile-reflect-enemies-with-ranged-builds
Sat, 07 Dec 2013 15:36:43 +0000TL2 Hardcore Modeemberman58720@/discussions
Things I have thought of:

Just stop shooting until the shield goes down.

Use a non-missile attack.

There are problems with these ideas though. The missile reflect enemy might standing in the middle of a large group of enemy, meaning he is hard to isolate. It is hard to get close enough to use a non-ranged attack and it is hard to hit anything else with a projectile attack without accidentally hitting the missile reflect shield and killing yourself. While the shield is up, projectile area-of-effect attacks or any attacks that hit multiple enemies are useless.]]>
Killed by HEALING BOT WTF??http://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/57359/killed-by-healing-bot-wtf
Mon, 05 Aug 2013 09:16:26 +0000TL2 Hardcore Modericekrispies57359@/discussionshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKXWSWah ... e=youtu.be]]>
Just Beat HCE for the First Timehttp://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/58916/just-beat-hce-for-the-first-time
Sat, 14 Dec 2013 15:21:24 +0000TL2 Hardcore Modetherapyneeded58916@/discussions
Anyway, I was just pretty happy and wanted brag a bit (even though I realize I'm still a lot worse than most of you here lol). Good luck to everyone in their HC adventures!]]>
New guy going hardhttp://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/58699/new-guy-going-hard
Thu, 05 Dec 2013 23:20:14 +0000TL2 Hardcore Modefafe58699@/discussions
Just got this game and boy... is it great!
I had seen people play the game before, did some research, I dare say I'm pretty well informed for a newbie, so I thoguth I would push things a little bit. Gone straight to veteran softcore.

At least for a while...

Don't get me wrong, one day I may feel the need of just relax while I slash through the enemy lines. Not today. Today I'm going ****, elite ****, of course!

I've just created an Embermage. A brave man with a strong heart and a sharp mind. He's destined to be great, the sky is the limit, and no creature can stand against his absolute power...

... except for the monsters inside that phase beast portal. Don't judge me, it seemed a good idea at the time.

But for my second Embermage... Ahhh, no no no... no one can stop him! Here I come, Alchemist!!!]]>
RIPhttp://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/58567/rip
Fri, 29 Nov 2013 14:37:43 +0000TL2 Hardcore Modeemberman58567@/discussionsFrosted Hillshttp://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/57425/frosted-hills
Fri, 09 Aug 2013 01:30:48 +0000TL2 Hardcore Modekuhchung57425@/discussions
I noticed that the Frosted Hills were especially bad early on. The ice tornados and ice archers were absolutely killer. I tried taking an ice potion to mitigate the damage... it may have helped somewhat.

Now I'm back here in NG+ and it hurts just as much as ever. Any tips? Don't get hit? Is stacking ice resist worth it? More Grell eyes? I'm wearing full Sentinel and have shoved a bunch of eyes into what I can. Reluctant to change gear.

If it matters, I'm on 36% all damage reduction and playing an Outlander.]]>
Nooooooohttp://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/58427/nooooooo
Sun, 17 Nov 2013 21:37:28 +0000TL2 Hardcore ModeAlethiaArete58427@/discussions I got her to level 30 too...]]>
My HCE stories.....so sad..so sadhttp://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/56507/my-hce-stories-so-sad-so-sad
Sun, 30 Jun 2013 12:52:05 +0000TL2 Hardcore ModeTaran56507@/discussions
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Terran was born. A shotgun in both hands. He had heard the story of Rusha. She did not do a lot of damage..he was not going to make the same mistake.
Stay tuned to hear his fate.]]>
Are instakill bugs still there?http://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/57871/are-instakill-bugs-still-there
Tue, 10 Sep 2013 08:25:48 +0000TL2 Hardcore Modemindw0rk57871@/discussions
I remember there were bugs that lead to painful death. Like dying after killing Regent if you stay near his corpse. Did they fix them? Also remind me plz of possible oneshot places I should be aware of.]]>
Streaming HCE Derinkuyu "Ironman" Synergies Modhttp://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/57693/streaming-hce-derinkuyu-ironman-synergies-mod
Wed, 28 Aug 2013 15:49:12 +0000TL2 Hardcore ModeAnakoreten57693@/discussions
The rules/restrictions are simple and as follows:- You may not progress past Estherian Enclave
- You may only clear/farm up to Grell
- Get to level 100 doing only Derinkuyu
- All gear has to be self-found or bought in the act 1 shops or from Tabletop Mountain vendors, though you can store things you find, you may not withdraw anything from the shared stash

(Currently adding more than restricting to the rules. I'll probably be re-adding restrictions later on)

As a validation I'm streaming every second of gameplay. And keeping all past broadcasts.
You can find me currently preparing on http://www.twitch.tv/anakoreten]]>
Witherways spike trap?http://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/57560/witherways-spike-trap
Sun, 18 Aug 2013 20:54:16 +0000TL2 Hardcore Modekuhchung57560@/discussionsWelcome to HCE Solo - You're gonna die. Tips for newbs.http://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/55486/welcome-to-hce-solo-youre-gonna-die-tips-for-newbs
Thu, 02 May 2013 16:13:00 +0000TL2 Hardcore ModeOathbreaker55486@/discussions
2. Get a stash/inventory mod. Else you will have very serious problems deciding what to keep for other characters that will take over when your current one inevitably dies. Or you'll have to do a lot of tedious logging in/out of characters just to mule. Search Steam for a TL2 inventory mod and take your pick, or look in the mod forum here.

3. If you can use a shield, you probably want to.

4. Vitality isn't much use for raising hp, but does help with Block percentage.

5. Learn to love the Grell/Regent run. You don't even need to reroll the world for it. Just plonk down a town portal right outside the entrance to the Wellspring Temple in Temple Steppes, kill Grell, go to town, port to Frosted Hills, kill Regent, back to town, port to Temple Steppes and since the game only saves the state of mobs in so many dungeons, the mobs in Wellspring Temple will have reset. Damage Reduction gems, lowbie uniques and resist-all gems await.

6. You are as yet unable to quickly exit out of some quest-reward dialogues. This is rather infuriating if your pet has pulled mobs in the meantime. Or you could keep pet on defensive. Or get really fast at selecting rewards.

7. Always try to stay a level or two above the recommended level for an area, at a minimum. Exceptions are early on if you really know what you're doing and have the gear to overpower stuff. A neat trick is to just farm certain areas and then reroll if you can kill quicker/more safely in that area. Examples are farming fish and little Ratkin in Temple Steppes, or the Warbeasts area, or the Skeletons in Temple Steppes.

8. Consider rebinding the keys to Move and "Move/Attack" - you will die from accidentally clicking anywhere near a mob when you're trying to get away, instead of running away like you wanted. This creates another problem with certain builds that need to auto-attack at least early on. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I have my Move/Attack bound to "`" and Move bound to Left Mouse Button. Your potions should probably be rebound to someplace near your skills/fingers, like Q and W or E. Also consider not using the Tab-to-switch skills function, it's a bit clunky.

Any more tips I should have known about before I got into this? If someone has a better version of a post like this, it should get stickied imho. I'm still kind of new to this thing.

EDIT: PLACES TO WATCH OUT FOR:

Phase Breast challenges can be a great place to level and gear up and get gems and cash if you're high enough level that it's not a serious threat. But go into something you're not familiar with, at too high of a level, and you're dead meat.

Act 2 Djinn's challenge http://torchlight.wikia.com/wiki/Luminous_Arena - you either need tons of regen or you need to be able to fight quickly at close quarters - there's no running away and taking on the monsters piecemeal. You have to stay in the circle and if you can't handle fighting many monsters in a small area you're dead.]]>
HCE - Anyone for fresh start?http://forums.runicgames.com/discussion/57416/hce-anyone-for-fresh-start
Thu, 08 Aug 2013 08:30:41 +0000TL2 Hardcore ModeEdeus57416@/discussions
I was wondering if anyone was up for a bit of party play starting tonight? Ofcourse ideally we'll have 6-players but 4 upwards would be fun too.
As the title says, im looking to play **** Elite, basically because i like the biggest challenge possible. I tested out the Synergies Mod over the last couple of days and found it dumbed the game down significantly - the toughest part being the opening area due to having only a few pots. Seemed like fun though so I'm keeping an open-mind in terms of mods (i have only ever used 1 - synergy) but initially im thinking Vanilla.

Voice comms would be awesome so hopefully you can come equipped with that - English speaking players please! sry!

If there isn't too much interest then so be it but fingers crossed there are a few more lurkers on this forum and some interest is generated. Maybe a Runic employee(s) want to get involved? ^_^

Anyway, let me know on here if you're interested and hopefully we can get going tonight. Im in London so GMT 18:00ish is probably when ill get to start organising properly.